Hi guys, so as a organic hydro grower I think this forum totally misses a proper thread about best nutes for hydro with results/ or opinions.
Please share with us what nutes you use and gives any PROS & CONS that they have. Also share with us the results you have gotten, price and any issues:
1. What brand of organic nutes do you use? what are the parts/ names? Botanicare organic (Pure blend pro, pure bloom pro, liquid karma, sweet, aquashield)
2. How much does this line cost? about $200 for everything 1 gallon.
3. What are some issues you have face using this brand? looks like I have mild Phosphorus deficiencies in week 7 of bloom but it may be normal or due to ph fluctuation.
4. What makes this brand your favorite? very ph stable as long as the ppm is right for the plant
5. What was your last yields and strains? using as my first grow, will update in 2 weeks when harvest.
(add any more detail as you please)
1. Roots Organics HPK ~ 10-15 ml/gallon $20/ 1quart
Roots Organics Surge ~ 2-5ml/gallon $15/ 1 quart
2. The whole line is probably $200, but I haven't tried their veg nutes, standard flower nutes, or any other micro nutes.
3.Years back I learned to grow in perlite and just used the fox farms grow big, bloom and micro nutes and that was it. I was able to grow some surprisingly top shelf stuff, but the yields left a lot to be desired, and nute burn was something I never really eliminated. Anyway I ended up taking a couple year break and the market has changed a ton since then with states legalizing right and left and a plethora of new products coming out.
Now that I've had a chance to start again I wanted to try out something organic without changing the grow medium I was used to. My goal was twofold, reduce the ease of nute burn in flower and improve the ease of flush. After reading up on it, most folks cautioned against using anything organic in a hydro medium due to root rot, so I decided I would work my way into it slowly rather than head first.
My current setup is perpetual, and I've been adding in organic nutes starting with the flower cycle. I'm currently using Roots Organics HPK and Surge for flower with the intent to integrate their P booster and amino acid products soon. As far as I have experienced, HPK is just as capable as any other synthetic nutrient of burning the crap out of your plants if you overdo it. It also didn't significantly improve the flush. That said it's rated at 0-4-3-1 n/p/k/magnesium. The magnesium amount is much higher than I would have expected, but thankfully I haven't seen any signs of burns, even when used alongside CaliMag and another micro nute blend that contains magnesium. This is why you will see some folks describe HPK as a hardener rather than a purely flowering nutrient. As for the Surge, it's also disappointingly not entirely organic (although its really close), but I find it to be fairly 'soft' and forgiving when used in flower; yet underwhelming when added in addition to Grow Big in veg.
In my experience, the recommended application rate for HPK (15ml/gallon) is too strong for 1 gallon plants, but insufficient in P for ~3 gallon or larger. I think Roots Organics P booster will fix that, and for that reason I can't really knock HPK since that sort of deficiency is common across the market. Surge is similarly too strong in N at the recommended 5ml/gallon in 1 gallon pots, but a bit insufficient at 3+ gallon. As for PH consistency, I haven't found HPK to be all that great given the fact its literal guano in a bottle. There is no way to get it mixed properly for a PH reading without aerating it signifigantly (which throws the reading off) and I have noticed swings up to 1 PH over 24 hours. Considering further the impact of root rot and this can make things tricky. Neither smell particularly bad (surge actually smells kinda...good...), but the day after mixing are absolutely foul.
Given that most people use this line in organic soil I decided I may as well bastardize one more process while I was at it and grew two bagseeds in 2 gallon pots 50/50 perlite/steer manure. Even throughout flower, the vegetative growth was superior to anything I could manage in pure perlite up to 5 gallon, and the HPK/Surge was far more forgiving to work with and though neither the bag seeds grew quite as potent as anything in perlite.
Then comes the best part which is constantly fighting root rot. No matter what I do, the only way to mitigate it is to flush with hydrogen peroxide 3%/2ml/gallon every month or so and treat it with some rhizomes and something like Bonticare Hydroguard in between. This doesn't make it go away, just cleans the roots off enough so they can do their job, while destroying all the beneficial microbes that I need to add in order to break down the organic material.(Hydroguard/rhizomes).
TL;DR
Roots Organics line will probably give you amazing results in any soil, but isn't anything special in perlite. That said I will likely continue to use it until the bottle is out, and may continue if I can nail a couple things down being that the yields are good and potency is great.
4. It's my favorite because it's the one I have used.
5. 1/2/oz per 1 gallon perlite pot, really cruddy.
I don't understand about 50% of it. Lol! Ahhh..... My inexperience can sometimes give me pause.